Uncanny Avengers & A+X – Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The definitive, chronological, and up-to-date guide and trade reading-order on collecting Uncanny Avengers comic books via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperback graphic novels. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated December 2017 with titles scheduled for release through August 2018.

Collecting Uncanny Avengers

Before 2012 the word “Uncanny” had always been a mutants-only adjective at Marvel and The Avengers franchise included relatively few mutant members.

That all changed in the wake of Marvel’s massive Avengers vs. X-Men crossover in 2012. The flagship book of their new Marvel Now line-up was Uncanny Avengers – a greatest hits combination of the most recognizable members of both teams, all striving to maintain Professor Xavier’s message of unity and the Avenger’s mandate of protecting the Earth.

What felt like an uneasy alliance to start began to feel more natural with 2016’s All-New, All-Different Marvel. Maybe that’s because the book felt less like X-Men problems pasted onto the Avengers, or maybe it’s the mix of characters – now also includes of The Inhumans.

The third volume (there was a brief second one after Axis) jettisons the idea that the team must be comprised entirely of major stars like Wolverine and Thor and leans hard into Rogue as the central character. It rotated more Avengers in and out of the mix, plus brought in Deadpool and then Cable (the latter of whom has always been a great partner and foil to Rogue when they occasionally bump up against each other, as they did early in Mike Carey’s X-Men Legacy run).

Now, over half a decade since their debut, Uncanny Avengers feel like their own institution distinct from their pair of parent franchises. Who knows how that feeling will be affected by “No Surrender,” mega all-Avengers crossover in early 2018 that will see all of the books merged down to a single Avengers weekly title.

Join the Crushing On Crushing Krisis mailing list for a notice whenever this page is updated with new collections – plus, a not-more-than-weekly ping about new comics content.

Name: Email address:

Marvel Now! (2012 – 2015)

In the wake of Avengers vs. X-Men anyone can be an Avenger – including lifelong X-Men like Havok and Rogue, and Avengers disassembler Scarlet Witch! They team up with Captain America, Thor, and the omnipresent Wolverine under the pen of Rick Remender.

Two stories play out in this run: one, a time travel paradox with Apocalypse and Kang was seemingly meant as the climax of his Uncanny X-Force run. The second is a Red Skull story that emerges directly from AvX and is resolved in Axis. A subsequent brief volume is an adventure on Counter Earth with a markedly different team that now also includes Quicksilver and Doctor Druid.

Avengers & X-Men: Axis Oversize Hardcover
Collects Avengers & X-Men: Axis #1-9. This event is effectively Uncanny Avengers Omnibus Vol. 1.5 – it was written by Rick Remender, continues all of the themes of his run, and Uncanny Avengers wasn’t published during the event. See Marvel Universe Events for more information.

Vol. 2, #1-5: Vol. 1: Counter-EvolutionaryA brief, somewhat vestigial relaunch of the team prior to Secret Wars whose main purpose in existing seems to be introducing Doctor Voodoo to the team and retconning Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to be not the children of Magneto anymore.

Avengers: Rage of Ultron OGN (2015)This Remender-penned original graphic novel was actually Marvel’s first story in the post-Secret Wars era, though fans didn’t know that at the time. It not only represents his last hurrah with the franchise, but continues some elements of his second run (Sabretooth as an Avenger) and sets up a major thread for Duggan to continue to below (the Pym vs. Ultron struggle). It’s absolutely a part of the fabric of Uncanny Avengers.

In this period, an iteration of the team makes an out-of-continuity appearance in Marvel: Now What?! (2013) #1, Deadpool’s Art of War (2014) #3-4, and Ultimate End (2015) #3-4

A+X – Marvel Now! (2012 – 2013)

A chance for big name creators to make unusual pairings out of Avengers and X-Men, with two stories in each issue. Though this sounds like a mini-series, it has been promoted as an ongoing – and it’s pretty entertaining.

All-New, All-Different Marvel (2015 – Present)

Deadpool writer Gerry Duggan takes the reigns of this edition through Secret Empire, at which point Jim Zub finishes out the volume and takes the team into “No Surrender.” Both authors foreground Rogue as the main character and combat leader, though Captain America, Quicksilver, Human Torch, and the unlikely additions of Deadpool and Deadpool all play key roles.

Civil War II:See Marvel Universe Events. This conflict (and the secret divisiveness of Captain America that emerges from it) has major ramifications for the team that can be felt throughout the next collection. Issues #13-14 are direct tie-ins. An iteration of the team appears in Civil War II (2016) #1-3 & The Fallen (2016), Deadpool (2016) #14 & 18, New Avengers (2015) #12, carlet Witch (2016) #9

At this point all of the remaining Avengers titles are dissolved for their teams and writers to be combined into a single, weekly Avengers title for the “No Surrender” crossover at the beginning of 2018. It remains to be see if Uncanny Avengers will return after the crossover has ended. See Avengers for “No Surrender” collection information.

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

[…] getting good until his deconstruction was in full swing, four arcs in. And, Uncanny Avengers (go to the guide!) was a rocky road compared to how much fun a title with that cast ought to be. It spent half its […]

[…] This mashup anthology was never bad and I found myself missing it once it was gone. Its sin was its strength: being so very continuity free – enough that it joked about it at the top of every issue! That made for some great stories, but at a point when Marvel on the whole hardly cares about the sequencing of its stories this book could have had a bit more heft with more rooted-in-time A-stories like the Cyclops and Captain America tale that closed it out (even if that was possibly the worst tale in its line-up).Visit the guide. […]

Links from Crushing Krisis to retailer websites may be in the form of affiliate links. If you purchase through an affiliate link I will receive a minor credit as your referrer. My credit does not affect your purchase price. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program (in the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), eBay Partner Network, and iTunes Affiliate Program. Note that URLs including the "geni.us" domain name are affiliate short-links.